Chapter I

Section 1. Short title and commencement

(1) This Act may be called the Code of Civil Procedure (Amendment) Act, 1999.

(2) It shall come into force on such date as the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint, and different dates may be appointed for different provisions of this Act and for different States or for different parts thereof.

Chapter 2

Section 2. Amendment of section 26

In the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (5 of 1908) (hereinafter referred to as the principal Act), existing section 26 shall be renumbered as sub-section (1), and after sub-section (1) as so renumbered, the following sub-section shall be inserted, namely:--

"(2) In every plaint, facts shall be proved by affidavit.".

Section 3. Amendment of section 27

In section 27 of the principal Act, the following words shall be inserted at the end, namely:--

"on such day not beyond thirty days from date of the institution of the suit".

Section 4. Amendment of section 32

In section 32 of the principal Act, in clause (c) for the words "not exceeding five hundred rupees" the words "not exceeding five thousand rupees" shall be substituted.

Section 6. Amendment of section 60

In section 60 of the principal Act, in the first proviso to sub-section (1), in clause (i), for the words "four hundred rupees", the words "one thousand rupees" shall be substituted.

Section 7. Insertion of new section 89

In the principal Act, after section 88, the following section shall be inserted, namely:--

"89. Settlement of disputes outside the Court.--(1) Where it appears to the Court that there exist elements of a settlement which may be acceptable to the parties, the Court shall formulate the terms of settlement and give them to the parties for their observations and after receiving the observations of the parties, the Court may reformulate the terms of a possible settlement and refer the same for--

(a) arbitration;

(b) conciliation;

(c) judicial settlement including settlement through Lok Adalat; or

(d) mediation.

(2) Where a dispute has been referred--

(a) for arbitration or conciliation, the provisions of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (26 of 1996) shall apply as if the proceedings for arbitration or conciliation were referred for settlement under the provisions of that Act;

(b) to Lok Adalat, the Court shall refer the same to the Lok Adalat in accordance with the provisions of sub-section (1) of section 20 of the Legal Services Authority Act, 1987 (39 of 1987) and all other provisions of that Act shall apply in respect of the dispute so referred to the Lok Adalat;

(c) for judicial settlement, the Court shall refer the same to a suitable institution or person and such institution or person shall be deemed to be a Lok Adalat and all the provisions of the Legal Services Authority Act, 1987 (39 of 1987) shall apply as if the dispute were referred to a Lok Adalat under the provisions of that Act;

(d) for mediation, the Court shall effect a compromise between the parties and shall follow such procedure as may be prescribed.".

Section 8. Amendment of section 95

In section 95 of the principal Act, in subsection (1), for the words "not exceeding one thousand rupees", the words "not exceeding fifty thousand rupees" shall be substituted.

Section 9. Amendment of section 96

In section 96 of the principal Act, in subsection (4), for the words "three thousand rupees", the words "ten thousand rupees" shall be substituted.

Section 10. Substitution of new section for section 100A

For section 100A of the principal Act, the following section shall be substituted, namely:--

"100A. No further appeal in certain cases.--Notwithstanding anything contained in any Letters Patent for any High Court or in any other instrument having the force of law or in any other law for the time being in force,--

(a) where any appeal from an original or appellate decree or order is heard and decided,

(b) where any writ, direction or order is issued or made on an application under article 226 or article 227 of the Constitution, by a single Judge of High Court, no further appeal shall lie from the judgment, decision or order of such Single Judge.".

Section 11. Substitution of new section for section 102

For section 102 of the principal Act, the following section shall be substituted, namely.--

"102. No second appeal in certain cases.--No second appeal shall lie from any decree, when the amount or value of the subject-matter of the original suit does not exceed twenty-Five thousand rupees.".

Section 12. Amendment of section 115

In section 115 of the principal Act, in sub-section (1),--

(i) for the proviso, the following proviso shall be substituted, namely:--

"Provided that the High Court shall not, under this section, vary or reverse any order made, or any order deciding an issue, in the course of a suit or other proceeding, except where the order, if it had been made in favour of the party applying for revision, would have finally disposed of the suit or other proceedings.";

(ii) after sub-section (2), but before the Explanation, the following sub-section shall be inserted, namely:--

"(3) A revision shall not operate as a stay Of suit or other proceeding before the Court except where such suit or other proceeding is stayed by the High Court.".